NON-EQUILIBRIUM CHEMISTRY OF DYNAMICALLY EVOLVING PRESTELLAR CORES. II. IONIZATION AND MAGNETIC FIELD
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
We study the effect that non-equilibrium chemistry in dynamical models of collapsing molecular cloud cores has on measurements of the magnetic field in these cores, the degree of ionization, and the mean molecular weight of ions. We find that OH and CN, usually used in Zeeman observations of the line-of-sight magnetic field, have an abundance that decreases toward the center of the core much faster than the density increases. As a result, Zeeman observations tend to sample the outer layers of the core and consistently underestimate the core magnetic field. The degree of ionization follows a complicated dependence on the number density at central densities up to 10{sup 5} cm{sup -3} for magnetic models and 10{sup 6} cm{sup -3} in non-magnetic models. At higher central densities, the scaling approaches a power law with a slope of -0.6 and a normalization which depends on the cosmic-ray ionization rate {zeta} and the temperature T as ({zeta}T){sup 1/2}. The mean molecular weight of ions is systematically lower than the usually assumed value of 20-30, and, at high densities, approaches a value of 3 due to the asymptotic dominance of the H{sup +}{sub 3} ion. This significantly lower value implies that ambipolar diffusion operates faster.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039346
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 754, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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